New Orleans, a city plagued by inestimable property damage and an unknown loss of life, has something else to fear: disease.
Darin Mann, press secretary for the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, said the department’s preliminary study found the water in New Orleans has high amounts of bacteria, enough to cause serious health problems.
Erin Witcher, spokeswoman for the Environmental Protection Agency, said in a press release that the bacteria counts, especially E. coli, “greatly exceed EPA’s recommended levels for contact.”
While Mann said contact with the water could cause a person to become seriously ill, he said the DEQ has not found any evidence of chemicals in the water — water that some have called a “toxic soup.”
“We haven’t seen any high amounts of chemicals in the water we have tested, but either way it’s bad for you,” Mann said. “We’re vaccinating all of our folks before they go down to New Orleans.”
Witcher said the most likely symptoms of infection from ingesting the water are stomach aches, fever, vomiting and diarrhea.
People who come in contact with the water are advised to clean all exposed areas with soap and water.
Pumping the water back into the lake could have ecological side effects, Mann said, but the city will be much better off once the water is back where it belongs.
“There may be a lot of fish killed, but the alternative would be much worse,” he said. “We have no choice but to just pump it back into the lake.”
Jim Catallo, associate professor of comparative biomedical sciences, said it may be a long time before Lake Pontchartrain is able to flush out the pathogens in the water.
“The lake is like a big bathtub with a very small drain,” Catallo said. “We can let time take care of it, but it will take a long time before the water is pulled back out into the Gulf.”
Catallo said if the city was not pumped out soon, there may be man-made chemicals and gases that could dissolve into the water.
In addition to causing fueling fires, he said the natural gas leaks, which have been reported in many locations around the city, could have a suffocating effect on people and animals.
The other area Catallo said could be affected is the sediments pumped into the lake. He said heavier materials sink to the bottom, possibly harming animals who live by tunneling through the sediment.
Richard Carmona, U.S. surgeon general, said in a press conference held outside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Sept. 4 that the Department of Health and Human Services has a detailed plan for dealing with future health risks.
Jessica Badger, spokeswoman for the department, told The Daily Reveille what they are doing to meet the medical needs of the Gulf Coast region.
“HHS has delivered more than 100 tons of medical supplies into the Gulf Coast region, including vaccines, insulin and maintenance medications for chronic diseases like heart disease,” she said.
She also said the department has deployed hundreds of medical professionals to the region to care for future health needs.
“There are entire teams who have been sent to deal with patients and their long-term mental and physical health,” Badger said.
But the effects of Katrina’s flood affect more than just people.
Catallo said pumping the flood water out of New Orleans could seriously affect shellfish in the lake.
“I wouldn’t eat oysters out of the lake for a while,” he said. “At least not until they can prove them to be safe again.”
Contact Jeff Jeffrey at [email protected]